This seems like d?j? vu to me.

During my senior year, I was a student representative at a few Racine Unified School District board meetings. I sat agape in disbelief at hearing board members wince at the mention of a $12 million shortfall and ensuing referendum, and, minutes later, describe a plan to build a multi-million dollar science addition onto Horlick High School as a “slam dunk.”

Similar thoughts ruminated when I saw the Madison Metropolitan School District try to work through a $10 million deficit while furiously debating whether or not to approve The Studio School, which many argued was crucial to achieving Madison’s educational mission.

And now, as Chancellor John Wiley takes his leave and Associated Students of Madison looks for an issue to stake their reputation on, I’m seeing the same conundrum again. While state funding for the University of Wisconsin is drying up and many are advocating for the state to do more, UW is continually planning on expansion.

In each of these cases, the reasoning is understandable: Educators don’t want to sacrifice their mission due to budget constraints. However, universities, unlike K-12 public education, must also balance their emphasis on the quality of education with accessibility. Until recently, UW has been straddling both. However, it’s hard to believe that balance will hold much longer considering Wisconsin’s budget woes. Even if the state Legislature finds a way to plug the nearly $650 million shortfall with the budget repair bill, Wisconsin’s economy isn’t going to bounce back any time soon.

Given the fact that our Legislature isn’t exactly in a position to shower anyone with gifts, the UW System may have to prioritize its budget requests. According to a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article earlier this month, student senates from six campuses — Milwaukee, Oshkosh, Eau Claire, Stout, Fond du Lac and Superior — presented the UW System Board of Regents with a list of priorities they would like to see taken up with the Legislature. While the requests included the standard goals of increasing both quality and accessibility, the latter seemed to outweigh the former. Students asked that the Wisconsin Higher Education Grant increase dollar-for-dollar with tuition and that tuition be capped at the rate of inflation. Sure, they argued for higher professor salaries, but they also said such raises must come strictly from state funds. It’s clear that increasing costs and mounting debt is not going to allow students to continue footing the bill.

Of course, some here at UW-Madison have taken the other road. The fairly recent trend toward differential tuition approved by the School of Business and discussed by the School of Engineering seems to argue the education received is far more important than how many people are able to afford it. With students being bottlenecked into classes and professors leaving for better offers, it makes sense to take the quality of our education into our own hands if the state won’t.

It’s easy to get trapped in an endless series of counterarguments when trying to balance the two. However, one point may put things in perspective. In his final sit-down interview with the Badger Herald Editorial Board, Mr. Wiley asked those individuals around the table what they felt their degree was worth. It was obvious from the murmured answers that few could put a strict numerical value on their education. However, after some contemplation, he broke the silence and stated that calculating a number of factors — financial aid, the students degree program, the cost of tuition, etc. — the worth of a UW degree ranged from $250,000 to $800,000.

With that in mind, consider the question of what’s more important: increasing the worth of that degree or ensuring more people can obtain it? If we’re talking about our own desire for profit maximization, then we’re going to make sure that degree is worth as much as possible. But when UW is treated in the most holistic sense as the state’s economic engine, the economic and social benefits to be had from a larger pool of college graduates is far greater. More grads mean higher median income, which means more tax revenue and a more secure economy for Wisconsin. So in this sense, the priority of the state should certainly be put on accessibility first. That means more direct focus on increasing financial aid or, at the very least — and this may be the easiest solution — stop approving building projects that have seen systemwide segregated fees increase at faster rates than tuition. UW may drop a little in the rankings, but if students are continually priced out of higher education, this state will continue to fall by the wayside.

That being said, this campus can’t paint itself into a corner. In contrast to the rest of the UW System, the Madison campus’ status as a research university and “public ivy” makes prestige and quality far more important than accessibility. Although tuition caps would be a great relief to the student body, they could prevent an increase intended to maintain the world-class education students at UW-Madison receive. And if the value of that college degree plummets because of it, accessibility will be meaningless.

It shouldn’t be a choice; it should be a balance. Through lobbying and negotiations, we may be able to fine-tune that balance rather than succumb to one end of the spectrum.

But that depends on the Legislature. And that is a whole other column.

Jason Smathers ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in journalism and history. See the second half of this series Wednesday.